Undead Nightmare

Lore & Background

Undead Nightmare is an alternate timeline expansion that reworks the base game's environment to appear dark and spooky. John Marston, having been reunited with his family, is awakened by a zombified Uncle, who bites Abigail and Jack, turning them into zombies. After killing Uncle and tying up his family, John sets out to find a cure. He encounters survivors and learns that Abraham Reyes triggered the plague by stealing an Aztec mask from catacombs. John returns the mask, ending the plague, and the goddess Ayauhteotl gifts him one of the four horses of the Apocalypse. Months later, Seth Briars steals the mask, causing the dead to rise again; John is resurrected as a revenant because he was buried with holy water.

Reader's Guide

Undead Nightmare received generally favorable reviews at its release and sold two million retail disc copies by 2011. It was praised as a model for downloadable content and named among the best of the year, winning top awards from the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards and Shacknews in that category. Critics praised its production values and handling of the zombie video game motif, noting its lightheartedness compared to the main game, though some struggled with character movement controls and found combat unvaried. It is retrospectively considered among the best downloadable content packs ever made. The expansion adds new weapons such as holy water, bait for the undead, and a blunderbuss that uses zombie parts as ammunition. It also includes four mythical horses—the four horses of the apocalypse—and mythical creatures to hunt, including Sasquatch, El Chupacabra, and a unicorn. Two multiplayer modes were added: Undead Overrun, a cooperative horde mode, and Land Grab, a free roam mode.

Did You Know?

• Undead Nightmare was released as downloadable content for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 26, 2010.
• The expansion includes four mythical horses based on the four horses of the apocalypse.
• John Marston can use holy water, bait for the undead, and a blunderbuss that fires zombie parts as ammunition.
• The retail disc version sold two million copies by 2011.